Chart plotter choice

Yes on the new Garmin machines. The chart software is still solid.

This is totally off topic. But from Norseman's post #15 I had a pony tail that I grew for my brother (long story) When I saw him after 3 years, He did not say a word. I called him an A-Hole. Keep the pony tail until Aug of last year, then cut it off. Everyone said I look 10 years younger. I will take every year I can get, being 72.

Aye, I was 62 on the picture above, extremely handsome..
Then I realized the ponytail was not getting much longer, it stagnated..
Oh well, back to Chart Plotter Choices.

Your question is like asking a group of guys if Ford, Chevy or Dodge is best. You will get many, many opinions
I have 4 Simrad displays and I like them. I use the C-Net + chip for my area and it has reliable information especially considering we are a bit remote. I occasionally get a glitch where my display in the cockpit loses source connection. But this is because the available cable route was long and exceeds the recommended cable length. I like the semi-touch screens I have. You have a dial for zoom in/out which I find easier than trying to do the two finger thing on a touch screen. The other thing I like is I can display whatever I want easily on any screen. And the radar overlay on the chart plotter is fabulous. I usually display depth/fish finder on one screen and charts on the other two with one zoomed in close and one out farther. I bought and installed the structure scan when I did the whole system and never, ever, use it. Wish I wouldn’t have spent the money on that feature but maybe others like it.

When you do stand back far enough to see it as you would at the helm. Also make sure it has a daylight visible screen. Most should today but make sure. Check how easy or hard it is to put in a route and that you can relate to the chart. Btw one other piece of info I liked on my screen was the accuracy. It's generally within about 7' but if a satellite goes off line or you lose the signal all bets are off and it's good to know on a glance. Thinking back my little Garmin had 8 info boxes and they all made my cruising easier.

One major issue with touch screen is the finger prints and the Sun bouncing off of the oils from your finger marks, makes it hard to see at times.

For chartplotting I prefer Garmin. As everyone else said...get the biggest your helm and wallet can accomadate

Garmin. 7612 series
I had older RayMarines 120s and even as a software guy I couldn’t get the hang of how to use. Garmin was intuitive - and as someone posted- Apple like. I had concern about how effective touchscreens would be and it was a non issue. I really like the GPS follow route vs just the heading hold.

The aha moment for me was getting 2 helm displays. At first I thought I wouldn’t need two/ that I’d just split single screen. Now I get why having 2 is so good. Usually have one screen zoomed in, the other split with depth/contour on one side snd zoomed out on other. Or a quick jump to tides, radar, or gps info, or engine stats.

One of my favorite feature on our Furuno Navnet 3D is that I can run the plotter on one full screen and on the other I can split the radar in two screens. I keep one at longer range, usually 3 to 6 NM or even longer to track showers and thunderstorms, and the other half at short range, under a mile, to spot small targets

Thoughts on radar? I currently have Garmin 7600’s with a 6’ 12kw XHD radar. Is the Fantom open arrays worth the money over the XHD models?

I just put a little 18” phantom closed array on a sportfish, the detail was absolutely impressive over the xhd and with such a small dome